Importance of security
Cierra White, Reporter
February 13, 2020
Fights, arguments, disagreements, and other conflicts occur at schools, so administration and school staff hold a lot of responsibility to help keep staff and students safe. Security professionals Chris Carr and Shay Serrano are two of six security guards at West. Security guards go by many names. They could...
Picking up the pace
Reagan Hoffman, reporter
October 15, 2019
When it comes to attendance at West, staff and administration ensures students get to their classes on time. It is now harder for students to skip with policies such as lock outs and sweeps that were instilled the previous year. Although these policies are working, the sweeps have some students start...
New school year, updated policies
Laurence Walker, print editor
September 10, 2019
The 2019-2020 school year will be another year of change. This will be Principal Cory Williams’ second year at West and there is an entirely new superintendent. Last year, the new administration introduced the lockout system and rid West of the strict backpack rules, among other things. This year, ...
Sweeping attendance issues out the door
Sophia Iniguez, Reporter
April 25, 2019
The administrators at West have launched a new effort to help keep students in their classrooms and out of the halls. This method is called the lockout system. The lockout system was used this year to prevent late and tardy students. Administrators, teachers, and students are all affected by this new po...
Crisis drills in the Davenport Community School District
Cameron Wilson, Reporter
March 20, 2019
Safety drills are important to practice in order to be prepared for a dangerous event. West is required by law to have four fire drills, four tornado drills, and two A.L.I.C.E (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Encounter, Evacuate) drills per year. Fire drills Fire drills were introduced into schools in 1958 af...
Powerlifting record setter
![“I lifted for two years,” technology teacher Jason Franzenburg said. “[Bruce] is on a different level.”](https://whstoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/IMG_0356-475x356.jpeg)
Thomas Yates, Reporter
March 5, 2019
Squatting down over the barbell, sophomore Carter Bruce tightly grips his hands around the cold metal. His fingers tighten around the grate-skinned grip of the bar as he stands, his entire body shaking as he pulls the weight against the force of gravity. Sweat pours down his face as he slowly comes to ...
District special education approach being revisited
Timothy O'Leary, Reporter
January 15, 2019
The Davenport School District has recently been under scrutiny by the state due to failures in the current special education programs provided. The district has received several audits across 2018, multiple relating to the special education department, namely being out of compliance with disproportio...
GEAR UP Iowa prepares Falcons for the future
Joseph Potts, Reporter
October 24, 2018
Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness Undergraduate Programs, also known as GEAR UP, is a grant awarded to the Iowa College Student Aid Commission that began in the fall of 2014. The grant was about $22 million. West is a part of GEAR UP, a program to help low-income students to prepare for pos...
West High way
Naomi Walker, Co-Media Editor & Business Manager
August 28, 2018
Falcons begin the 2018-2019 school year with an almost all new administration headed by new Principal Cory Williams. New Falcon faces Imagine sitting at home recovering from surgery and getting a text from the Associate Superintendent Rob Scott. Williams was in this exact position when s...
